Volume 8, Issue 4 |
August 2009 |
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Editor: YALSA Communications Specialist: Advertising: Submissions:
Subscribe to YALSA's Google Events Calendar See YALSA's full events calendar Important Dates Aug. 15: Nominations close for ALA Election candidates Aug.24: Voting for Teens' Top Ten opens Aug. 25: YALSA Board of Directors meets via conference call; find out how to listen in by emailing yalsa@ala.org. Sept. 1–30: Library Card Sign-Up Month Sept. 1: Bundled registration for 2010 Midwinter & Annual opens Sept. 18: Registration closes for Teen Read Week Sept. 18: Voting ends for Teens' Top Ten Sept. 26 - Oct. 3: Banned Books Week Sept. 30: Last day to volunteer for a 2011 selection committee Sept. 30: Bundled registration for 2010 Midwinter & Annual closes Oct. 1: Proposals due for 2010 Young Adult Literature Symposium Oct. 1: Advanced registration opens for 2010 Midwinter Meeting Oct. 2: Registration closes for YALSA's Fall Online Courses Oct. 5: YALSA Fall Online Courses start Oct. 18-24: Teen Read Week Oct. 30: Selection committee appointments completed YALSA on the Web Give to YALSA Help fund YALSA's future! Make a tax-deductable donation to the Leadership Endowment or the Friends of YALSA. 2009 Friends of YALSA Platinum Circle Gold Circle Silver Circle Bronze Circle Friends' Circle YAttitudes is published by the Young Adult Library Services Association, a division of the American Library Association © 2009 Design by You gave the Young Adult Library Services Association permission to email you.
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Table of Contents From the Editor Hello <<First Name>>! By Kim Patton, YALSA President-Elect The teens are gearing up for back to school and YALSA is gearing up for a new round of committee appointments. As YALSA’s new president-elect, one of my duties is to appoint people to YALSA's selection committees that will do their work from Feb. 1, 2010, through Jan. 31, 2011. While I continue to fit the pieces together and make my lists and check them twice, there are a few steps that you should take if you are a member interested in serving on a committee:
I am only making selection committee appointments now. To be eligible to serve on a selection committee, please complete this form by no later than Sept. 30. Appointments will be made by Oct. 30. Please be aware that selection committees carry a high workload. If you are not sure you can commit to the time required, please visit the YALSA Get Involved site for more info. Remember, YALSA selection committee members are required to attend meetings at ALA Annual Conference and Midwinter Meeting. For the 2010-2011 committees, that means members need to attend Annual in Washington, DC, and Midwinter in San Diego. And while we are all great at multi-tasking and juggling many different duties, YALSA has a rule that a member may only serve on three committees at a time. Also, if you are serving on an award committee (Printz, Edwards, Morris, etc.) you will not be able to serve on a selection committee at the same time. If you want to serve on a process committee, those appointments will be made in March. Thank you to all of our hardworking volunteers! If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to email me at kimpatton@kclibrary.org By Letitia Smith, YALSA Program Coordinator for Membership YALSA is like any other association – we’re only as strong as our members. So we want to make sure that all our members know the many options they have for membership. Did you know that personal membership is offered in several categories, at multiple price points? Here are the options:
If your status has changed since your last renewal, be sure to indicate that on your renewal form. Doing so could save you money! In addition, if you renew your membership using the online form, you can pay in installments instead of a lump sum. Of course, there’s much, much more! I’d be happy to provide you with more information about membership and on how you and your school or public library can take advantage of all the benefits you receive as YALSA members. For more information contact me, Letitia Smith, program coordinator for membership, lsmith@ala.org or 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4390 We're surveying members on two important member services: continuing education and the 2010 YALSA Road Trip. Help us offer you the right courses and continuing education options by taking a few minutes to complete our Future Topics survey, in which you'll advise YALSA on exactly what you'd like to see in CE from us. Another reason to take the survey? You could win a free YALSA e-course just for entering. In addition, YALSA is planning the 2010 Road Trip. In 2009, we held our first YALSA Road Trip, in which we had a presence at library conferences in each state. We're deciding what to focus on for the 2010 Road Trip. Please share your opinion in the 2010 Road Trip poll. YALSA Experiences: Emerging Leaders Program by Carla Land, Children's Services Department Head, Summerlin Library, Las Vegas, Nev. I was very excited to be accepted into the 2009 class of ALA Emerging Leaders, and was even more excited to have not only earned a YALSA sponsorship but to also be working on a group project for YALSA for the program. My group is planning to create a web resource showcasing YALSA booklists and awards for young adults, and it’s a project that I think has a lot of potential to be successful. My focus as a librarian has always been on young adults, and I think that designing a YALSA website meant specifically for teens is going to be a great service to them. After all, those lists and awards are there to highlight great books and materials for teens! This was my first time attending the ALA Midwinter Meeting, and I had a great experience. There were many excellent programs and I got to meet a lot of people who I have come to respect very highly in a short amount of time. There was a definite vibe of excitement in the air and it was easy to get caught up in it! I feel very fortunate to be among the librarians selected to join the Emerging Leaders program. I feel confident that I am not only going to be learning about how ALA works, but I am also going to be learning new skills to help me become more effective in the library profession. I very much appreciate the sponsorship from the Friends of YALSA which helped get me to Denver and will help me finish up the Emerging Leaders program in Chicago. My hope is that I’ll be able to give back by using what I am learning to participate in YALSA and better serve the teens in my own library. Are you interested in the Emerging Leader program? Visit the Emerging Leader wiki for more info! Virtual Participation Is a Click Away By Chris Shoemaker, YALSA Quick Picks For Reluctant Readers Committee Member “YALSA: the fastest-growing division of the American Library Association.” You may have heard or seen our tagline before now, and it's pretty exciting to be part of such an awesome group. But sometimes it can be difficult to find a connection to the organization, especially if you are just starting out your career, haven’t had the opportunity to attend conferences before, or are serving isolated communities. Field nominations could be your opportunity for virtual participation! Every YALSA booklist and many awards allow anyone to nominate a book for that list or award, just by filling out a form online. Members and non-members can use the field nomination to have an impact on YALSA's awards and booklists. Nearly all of the award and booklist committees take nominations from educators, librarians, and readers who see books circulate in the classroom, in the library, and in their homes. Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers is one of those committees. Quick Picks committee members are perpetually on the lookout for books that have covers, formats, and themes that will appeal to teens who either don’t like to read or who don’t have time for recreational reading. Committee members receive books from publishers for evaluation and nomination, but members also dig through their local bookstores, talk to their teens, and browse catalogs and blogs to find suitable titles. Sometimes a title can be missed, and that’s where field nominations come in. If there is a title that moves extremely well among your reluctant readers, why not nominate it? The nomination form is an easy way to submit a title online. You can also see the list of nominations, submit feedback from your teens to the committee, and contact committee members with questions. If you are attending ALA's Midwinter Meeting in Boston this year, you can drop by and hear the discussion taking place on the nominated titles. Quick Pick meetings are open to any registered conference attendee, so you can find out what teens from around the country thought about a particular nomination. You can also submit feedback from the floor. As of July 1, 2009, 45 titles were up for discussion; with 7 other titles sent in from the field, awaiting a second vote from a committee member. So please, stop by our meeting and check out the work of the Quick Picks committee this January. Field nominations and feedback submission are two easy ways that you can connect with YALSA. It’s rewarding to sit in on the discussions, to hear your feedback being used to sway an opinion, and to see your favorite titles make the list. Get involved with the fastest-growing division of the American Library Association and become part of the YALSA experience. YALSA Literature Symposium 2010 by Heather Booth, YA Literature Symposium Task Force Chair For three days next November, the YALSA community will focus on teen literature and diversity in all its forms. Join the conversation by contributing your unique perspective on this important topic. Proposals are now being accepted for the 2010 YA Literature Symposium, Beyond Good Intentions: Diversity, Literature, and Teens to be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Nov. 5-7. Whether your topic is a paper, a 90 minute presentation, or a half or full-day preconference, all proposals are due by October 1, 2009. Download applications and find out more at www.ala.org/yalitsymposium. In addition, YALSA is offering two stipends to attend the symposium. Two stipends up to $1,000 each will be awarded as follows: the first stipend is to be awarded to a library worker who works directly with young adults, with one to ten years' experience; the second is to be awarded to a student enrolled in an ALA-accredited MLS program (you must be a MLS student as of Nov. 5, 2010) with a focus on serving young adults in a library setting. To be considered for either stipend, you must be a personal member of YALSA. Download applications and learn more at the symposium website. Stipend applications are due Jan. 4, 2010. Questions about the symposium or the proposal process can be addressed to yalsa@ala.org or by calling 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4390. YALSA President Asks: Are You Risky? Linda Braun has designated Risky Business as the theme of her presidential year. Serving teens can involve risk in many forms, whether that's taking the risk to provide teens with the materials they want and need in the library setting, or stepping up to be an advocate for the programs and budget that teen services deserve. Braun wants to encourage librarians as they step up to the plate and take a swing at these risky, yet rewarding activities. One of the ways in which risk-taking will be supported is by collecting your stories. Linda Braun, Jack Martin, and Connie Urquhart are writing a book for YALSA (also called Risky Business) and want to publish your stories in it. Submit your account of taking risks in library services to teens or in your career to yalsarisk@gmail.com by Oct. 16. No story is too big or too small! |
